Updated 23 May, 2012, 6:39 pm IST

GOTY 2010 - CPUs

22 Dec, 2010, 1:59 pm IST | by Roshan DSilva

Top crop in the CPU arena.

GOTY 2010 - CPUs

A few days ago, we gave you our choices for the best Motherboards to come out this year. ASUS came out on top with the Rampage III Extreme, with the Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H and Intel DH55TC winning the mid-range and entry level categories respectively.

Today, we are here to crown the best Processors for the Year 2010. The job of selecting three processors from the hundreds on sale is quite a difficult job. When picking a processor, we have to take into account the speed, cache, cores of the processor as well as other features like Hyper Threading, Overclockability etc.

So after much deliberation and banging our heads on the wall, we can finally bring you the top three processors for 2010.

Best Performance: Intel i7-980X

POWER EXTREME!

The processor to buy if you want the absolute best in computing power and your wallet is deeper than the Mariana Trench. The i7-980X is Intel’s first hex-core CPU and can multitask at a ridiculous level. The core speed is 3.33 Ghz and it has twelve processing threads with a 12 MB Smart Cache. The only downside to owning the i7-980X is that it comes at a steep price. A very… very steep price.

Good: A beast in terms of raw horsepower, unmatched performance.
Bad: Very Expensive, can only run on certain X58 Motherboards.
Price: Rs. 51,000.

Mid Range- AMD Phenom II X6 1100T ‘Black Edition’

Power to the people...

AMD’s new flagship entry in the hex-core market, the Phenom II X6 1100T is the cheapest hex-core processor available in the market today. Built for those who require the horsepower when multitasking or running multi-threaded applications, the X6 1100T is your best bet for getting multiple cores into your PC without spending a fortune. With a core speed of 3.3Ghz and with 6MB of L3 cache, it’s a great choice if you are in the market for a new hex-core CPU, but within a certain budget.� The processor is also compatible with current AM3 and AM2+ sockets and designed to be compatible with the upcoming AM3+ socket.

Good: Great Value for Money, A whole lot cheaper than its Intel counterpart.
Bad: Not much of a performance jump over the 1090T.
Price: Rs. 14,500 approx.

Entry Level: Intel i3-540

Pick of the litter

The Intel i3 range contains a myriad of processors, from the i3-530 to the i3-560. But the i3- 540 wins as it manages to strike a perfect balance between amazing performance and value for money. Add to that the integrated GPU and you have the perfect combo for budget and HTPC builders.

Good: Integrated GPU makes it perfect for HTPC and budget builds. Great bang for your buck.
Bad: Integrated GPU is not upto the mark when compared to AMD or NVIDIA.
Price: 5,000.

So, there you go. The above were our choices for the processors which managed to kick butt in 2010.

Tags: GOTY - 2010 , Gadget Of The Year , Intel , AMD , i7-980X , Phenom II X6 1100T , i3-540